Graphics software giant Adobe on Wednesday spoke at the annual NAB show in Las Vegas to reveal new versions of the video editing apps in its Creative Cloud suite, including significant upgrades for Premiere Pro and After Effects, making them part of a more cohesive, tightly integrated suite of products.

Premiere Pro CC is set to gain a slew of new features and tweaks, including the ability to edit After Effects compositions without switching applications, a change designed to speed up editing. Editors will also be able to take advantage of a new dynamic masking and tracking function to make blurring faces and logos easier.

In addition, the new version will leverage Creative Cloud more heavily, providing facilities for automated backups and real-time synchronization between applications and teams using Adobe Anywhere.

After Effects CC's keying features will also be enhanced to provide better keying results when video has been compressed, and Adobe has integrated its Typekit typography-as-a-service offering. This will allow After Effects users to choose any Typekit-enabled typeface for use on the desktop.

"Broadcasters, filmmakers, corporate publishers and video professionals today are expected to relentlessly keep up with new formats, frame rates and distribution methods," said Adobe product executive Steve Warner. "Customers who have switched to Adobe Creative Cloud from alternative offerings tell us that Adobe apps and solutions give them a significant advantage. And with hundreds of new features and enhancements added with regular releases over the past 12 months, we continue to raise the bar with faster workflows for video pros."

Several supporting apps will also receive updates, including Story CC, Audition CC, Prelude CC, and SpeedGrade. Most of the changes revolve around enabling faster editing workflows, though SpeedGrade -- software that helps editors with color correction -- will also add support for OpenCL on the Mac Pro.

Adobe has been focusing extra attention on its video editing suite in recent years in an attempt to win back customers who had previously switched to Apple's Final Cut Studio. Many of those same customers were angered by the changes Apple made to Final Cut Pro X, and the two companies have been battling for hearts and minds in the years since its release.

Premiere Pro and After Effects are available part of Adobe's Creative Cloud, a subscription product that gives access to Adobe's entire software lineup for $49.99 per month. Discounts are available for educators and students, who start at $19.99 per month, while those upgrading from older "boxed" versions of Creative Suite can pay just $29.99 per month for the first year.

Users signing up now will be able to upgrade for free when the new versions of Premiere and After Effects ship "in the next couple of months."

While I am not a fan of the subscription I do like that we don't have to wait 8 to 12 months to get upgrades. The criticisms of the subscription service may be pushing Adobe to innovate and the list of improvements, integration and new features that Steve Forde has broken out in his blog are exciting.

While I am not a fan of the subscription I do like that we don't have to wait 8 to 12 months to get upgrades. The criticisms of the subscription service may be pushing Adobe to innovate and the list of improvements, integration and new features that Steve Forde has broken out in his blog are exciting.

Exactly. Without the need to sell users on a new version of the software every year, Adobe can push out more frequent updates, rather than stockpiling them for one big update.

I only use a limited number of their apps, so I wish they had some more flexible subscription options, but overall I think it was a move they needed to make.

Seriously, fk Adobe! They are arrogant to the Nth degree and make ridiculously bloated and complicated user interfaces, and refuse to adhere to Apples interface standards. They have no concept of ease-of-use and are stealing from their users with the subscription only model.

Still hate their rent-an-app offerings. Let me know when you go back to selling the software, Adobe.

I can understand why this business model might be annoying for some people. Adobe CC just quit being tailored to pros and amateurs. The software is now strictly for professionals. Unfortunately it doesn't work out for people who want to buy a smaller suite and keep it for several years, but it does offer new entrepreneurs the ability to scale up and down according to their project needs without a heavy cash outlay or purchased licenses lying around unused when there is less work. It is professional software.

The monthly payment model is becoming quite commonplace for expense professional software.

Seriously, fk Adobe! They are arrogant to the Nth degree and make ridiculously bloated and complicated user interfaces, and refuse to adhere to Apples interface standards. They have no concept of ease-of-use and are stealing from their users with the subscription only model.

Its an easy thing to say, but if you work in video production, publishing, web design, etc.... Adobe's products (for good or ill) hold the same preeminent position as Microsofts Office Suite.

I think them moving to the subscription model will ultimately open up a window for some competitor to scoop up users who can't or won't move onto Creative Cloud. Guys like Acorn or Pixelmator should be moving as fast as they can right now to build out their applications as viable lower to mid-tier alternatives to Photoshop.

I don't see how a subscription model enables these guys to update the software more frequently, we get updated software with Apple's apps almost every month and for buying it once and getting lifetime of updates.

Yes sure Apple is a hardware company designing software for its' hardware and hence they can get away with such a software update model.

Exactly. Without the need to sell users on a new version of the software every year, Adobe can push out more frequent updates, rather than stockpiling them for one big update.

I only use a limited number of their apps, so I wish they had some more flexible subscription options, but overall I think it was a move they needed to make.

This update is a perfect example of why it is better. They are only updating the video apps. With the old model they would release a new suite with only a few bug fixes to some apps and major new features to others but they were all bundled together. Now the apps can be updated when necessary or as soon as they are ready.

I don't see how a subscription model enables these guys to update the software more frequently, we get updated software with Apple's apps almost every month and for buying it once and getting lifetime of updates.

Yes sure Apple is a hardware company designing software for its' hardware and hence they can get away with such a software update model.

You said it exactly. You are subscribing to Apple, just via their hardware. Apple can afford to work this way. Adobe as a purely software company cannot.

Without needing to sell it's user base on big, annual upgrades, Adobe has no motivation to hold back features. So updates will come more frequently.

Apple similarly releases updates when they're ready. If you've already bought FinalCutProX, then don't expect to pay again until the next major revision- which could be years down the road. But the cost of this for Apple is amortized in hardware sales.

This update is a perfect example of why it is better. They are only updating the video apps. With the old model they would release a new suite with only a few bug fixes to some apps and major new features to others but they were all bundled together. Now the apps can be updated when necessary or as soon as they are ready.

And what's to stop them from NOT adding new features (or slowing updates to a crawl) in the future?

You'd still have to pay them every month, despite the lack of any updates, or you wont be able to edit your files.

And, no, using an older CS6 boxed version THEN wont be a solution -- because:

a) it wont recognise all the features created in CC versions, so project made in them won't open or open with missing stuff.

b) it wont have support for the latest graphics cards, peripherals, cpu extensions, etc.

c) it wont be sold forever.

d) a future OS update might render it crippled or unrunnable (e.g forget about running it in some future possible ARM-based Mac laptop).

And what's to stop them from NOT adding new features (or slowing updates to a crawl) in the future?

You'd still have to pay them every month, despite the lack of any updates, or you wont be able to edit your files.

And, no, using an older CS6 boxed version THEN wont be a solution -- because:

a) it wont recognise all the features created in CC versions, so project made in them won't open or open with missing stuff.

b) it wont have support for the latest graphics cards, peripherals, cpu extensions, etc.

c) it wont be sold forever.

d) a future OS update might render it crippled or unrunnable (e.g forget about running it in some future possible ARM-based Mac laptop).

That's the power of positive thinking!

Seriously, if you decide you no longer want the monthly payments, you can end the subscription. Before doing so, you should export all of your inDesign documents to the IDML format so they can be opened in previous versions. Photoshop, historically, can open psd files in an older version. If your psd file contains features that are not supported by the older version, the file still opens but those features cannot be edited. Tiff files can also be saved in layers, so that would be another option. Illustrator files can be saved to any of several earlier versions for compatibility, although the unsupported features will not be saved, but the files will open in the previous version.

Or you can end your subscription temporarily while you do not need it, and resubscribe later month to month if that better suits your needs.

No, that's the power of pragmatic thinking, from someone who has experience with companies getting complacent and screwing their customers over (remember Quark? 00's Microsoft? 00's Adobe post Macromedia acquisition?).

Quote:

Seriously, if you decide you no longer want the monthly payments, you can end the subscription. Before doing so, you should export all of your inDesign documents to the IDML format so they can be opened in previous versions. Photoshop, historically, can open psd files in an older version. If your psd file contains features that are not supported by the older version, the file still opens but those features cannot be edited. Tiff files can also be saved in layers, so that would be another option. Illustrator files can be saved to any of several earlier versions for compatibility, although the unsupported features will not be saved, but the files will open in the previous version.

Yeah, I know all that. They don't really answer my concerns though. It just means that there's a way to get the barebones documents back, with the features available in CS6. And that wont really work with more involved and faster moving technologies, like video editing. I might not be able to edit 4K video at all in CS6 for example.

In essense you say:

"if Adobe starts to slack off in the future you could still export bare-bone versions of your files, to a great cost to your workflow, and also go look for alternative apps".

Hardly an assurance on investing in the CC (and using the new futures they introduce now. That there's a way to escape losing some limbs, doesn't mean Adobe doesn't have you captured.

Or you can end your subscription temporarily while you do not need it, and resubscribe later month to month if that better suits your needs.

The thing is, I might not like, say, the lack of updates in 2016, but I would still like to be able to open and edit MY files. So, "ending my subscription" won't be an option -- and some old, boxed version, essentially a regression, is hardly a solution.

At least if they had their usual 18-month new versions, I could still with one I like, and skip 1-2 or even 5 versions, until either they have something compelling, or I'm forced to because the old one doesn't run on my system anymore.

"if Adobe starts to slack off in the future you could still export bare-bone versions of your files, to a great cost to your workflow, and also go look for alternative apps".

Fundamentally we disagree on the simple premise that a professional organization can afford to stay stagnant over the course of multiple software updates. If anything, the update cycle is accelerating faster than ever. Even professionals are struggling to keep pace with new innovations. If you want to dwell on your old expired edition of CS then I don't think you get the concept of, move forward or die, in the graphics industry. You can't go back to your canvas, paints an brushes. If you are part of the digital graphic arts culture, you need to accept that technology is constantly changing and you either join the change or you fall behind and ultimately lose any relevance with modern commercial art.

And what's to stop them from NOT adding new features (or slowing updates to a crawl) in the future?

You'd still have to pay them every month, despite the lack of any updates, or you wont be able to edit your files.

And, no, using an older CS6 boxed version THEN wont be a solution -- because:

a) it wont recognise all the features created in CC versions, so project made in them won't open or open with missing stuff.
b) it wont have support for the latest graphics cards, peripherals, cpu extensions, etc.
c) it wont be sold forever.
d) a future OS update might render it crippled or unrunnable (e.g forget about running it in some future possible ARM-based Mac laptop).

Truthfully nothing. But that is like the guy who sees a girl and falls in love with her and then divorces her before saying a word. There are always what ifs in life and for now this is the way Adobe is going. Truthfully we a
Earn our years subscription back in a few hours of work so it is not a huge deal but yes, there are drawbacks and compromises and who knows if they will slow down (I suspect that they saw with PageMaker that someone else can always step in and take away their business just like they did with Apple and FCP X.)

While I am not a fan of the subscription I do like that we don't have to wait 8 to 12 months to get upgrades. The criticisms of the subscription service may be pushing Adobe to innovate and the list of improvements, integration and new features that Steve Forde has broken out in his blog are exciting.

But they have only released one "big" version since going to CC... just like they always did with their .5 upgrades.

Seriously, if you decide you no longer want the monthly payments, you can end the subscription. Before doing so, you should export all of your inDesign documents to the IDML format so they can be opened in previous versions. Photoshop, historically, can open psd files in an older version. If your psd file contains features that are not supported by the older version, the file still opens but those features cannot be edited. Tiff files can also be saved in layers, so that would be another option. Illustrator files can be saved to any of several earlier versions for compatibility, although the unsupported features will not be saved, but the files will open in the previous version.

Or you can end your subscription temporarily while you do not need it, and resubscribe later month to month if that better suits your needs.

Premiere CC can't save a copy that works on CS6. Once you make a project CC, you HAVE to use CC.

Seriously, fk Adobe! They are arrogant to the Nth degree and make ridiculously bloated and complicated user interfaces, and refuse to adhere to Apples interface standards. They have no concept of ease-of-use and are stealing from their users with the subscription only model.

Wait! Wait! I thought you were talking about Microsoft Office for a while there....